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33  WIST  (MAIN  STRIIT 
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(7l6)t7a-4303 


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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHIVI/ICIVIH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Inatituta  for  Historical  IVIicroreproductions  /  institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiquas 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notas  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best 
original  copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this 
copy  which  may  be  bibliographically  unique, 
which  may  alter  any  of  the  images  in  the 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


0    Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 


I      I    Covers  damaged/ 


D 


Couverture  endommagie 


Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaur^  et/ou  pellicuMe 


□    Cover  title  missing/ 
Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 

pn    Coloured  maps/ 


D 
D 
D 

D 


Cartes  giographiques  en  couleur 


Coloured  init  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 


Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 
Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 


D 


Bound  with  other  material/ 
ReliA  avec  d'autres  documents 

Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  re  liure  serrie  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  le  long  de  la  marge  intirieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajoutAes 
lors  d'une  restauration  apparaissent  dans  le  texte. 
mais,  lorsque  cela  Atait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  <lt«  film«es. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  supplimentaires: 


L'institut  a  microfilmi  le  meilleur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  it6  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details 
de  cet  exemplaire  qui  sont  peut-Atre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite.  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  mAthode  normale  de  filmage 
sont  indiquis  ci-dessous. 


I     I   Coloured  pages/ 


n 


Pages  de  couleur 

Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommagies 

Pages  restored  and/oi 

Pages  restauries  et/ou  peliiculAes 

Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxe< 
Pages  dicoiories.  tachet6es  ou  piqudes 

Pages  detached/ 
Pages  ddtachies 

Showthrough/ 
Transparence 

Quality  of  prir 

Quality  inAgale  de  rimp>9S8ion 

Includes  supplementary  materii 
Comprend  du  matiriei  suppi^mentaire 

Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Mition  disponible 


I     I  Pages  damaged/ 

I      I  Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 

I      I  Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 

I      I  Pages  detached/ 

r~^  Showthrough/ 

HT]  Quality  of  print  varies/ 

I      I  Includes  supplementary  material/ 

r~~|  Only  edition  available/ 


The  co| 
to  the  I 


The  im 
posslbl 
of  the ( 
filming 


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beginn 
the  iasi 
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The  laa 
shall  c< 
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whichc 

Maps. 

differei 

entirely 

baginn 

right  ai 

requira 

methoi 


Pagan  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  4tA  filmies  A  nouveau  de  fapon  h 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  cheeked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  filmi  au  taux  de  rMuction  indiquA  ci-dessous. 

10X  14X  18X  22X 


26X 


30X 


y 


12X 


16X 


20X 


a4X 


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ire 

details 
es  du 
modifier 
er  une 
filmage 


The  copy  filmed  here  has  been  reproduced  thank* 
to  the  generosity  of: 

IMetropditan  Toronto  Library 
Canadian  Hittory  Department 

The  Images  appearing  here  are  the  beat  quality 
poaaible  conaldarlng  the  condition  and  legibility 
of  the  original  copy  and  In  keeping  with  the 
filming  contract  speclficatlona. 


L'exemplaire  fllmA  fut  reproduit  grflce  h  la 
gAniroaitA  de: 

Metropolitan  Toronto  Library 
Canadian  Hittory  Department 

Lea  Imagea  aulvantea  ont  At6  reprodultea  avec  lo 
plua  grand  soin,  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  at 
de  la  nettet6  de  l'exemplaire  fllmt,  at  en 
conformity  avec  lea  conditiona  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 


Original  copiea  in  printed  paper  covera  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  iaat  page  with  a  printed  or  iliuatrated  imprea- 
aion,  or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copiea  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
firat  page  with  a  printed  or  iliuatrated  imprea- 
aion,  and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  iliuatrated  impression. 


ies 


Les  exemplairea  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  eat  imprimte  aont  filmte  en  commenpant 
par  le  premier  plat  at  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
derniAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impreaalon  ou  d'iiiuatration,  aoit  par  le  second 
plat,  aelon  le  caa.  Toua  lea  autrea  exemplairea 
originaux  aont  film6a  en  commenpant  par  la 
premiere  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impreaalon  ou  d'iiiuatration  at  en  terminant  par 
la  dernlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 


The  Iaat  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  aymbol  -^  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED "),  or  the  aymbol  V  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  appliea. 


Un  dea  aymbolea  aulvanta  apparaltra  sur  la 
dernlire  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  aelon  le 
caa:  le  aymbole  — ►  signifie  "A  SUIVRE",  le 
aymbola  V  aignifie  "FIN". 


re 


I- 


Mapa,  platea,  charta,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  expoaure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  end  top  to  bottom,  ea  many  framea  aa 
required.  The  following  diegrama  illuatrate  the 
method: 


Lea  cartes,  planchea,  tableaux,  etc..  peuvent  Atre 
fiimia  A  dea  taux  de  rMuction  diffArenta. 
Loraque  le  document  eat  trop  grand  pour  Atre 
reproduit  en  un  aeui  clichA,  ii  eat  film*  6  partir 
de  Tangle  aupArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  A  drolte, 
et  de  haut  en  baa,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'imagea  nAceaaaire.  I.e8  diagrammea  auivants 
iilustrent  la  mAthode. 


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8- 


LEGITIMATE  LINES  OF  ANTHROPOLOGICAL  RESEARCH. 

A^N    ADDRESS 

BEFORE  THE  :      V':   *^'^> 

AMERICAN  ASSOCIATION    , 

FOR  THE 

ADVANCEMENT    OF    SCIENCE, 

BV 

PROF.  DANIEL  WILSON, 

CHAinMAN   OF  THE   SUBSRCTION  OF  ANTUR01>0L0UT, 

AT  NASHVILLE,  TENN., 


AUGUST,   1877. 


11 


SALEM : 

PRINTKD   AT  THE   SALEM   rP'i:S8. 

1878. 


'fe  '^i  I,  Jisti^a  "iiSto 


',/^>  ■':' 


■■■ii.''t 


LEGITIMATE  LIXES  OF  ANTHROPOLOGICAL  HESEARCH. 


A.N    A-DDRESS 


BEFORE  THE 


AMERICAN  ASSOCIATION 


FOR  TUB 


ADVANCEMENT    OF    SCIENCE, 


BV 


PROF.  DANIEL  WILSON, 

Chairman  op  the  Subsection  of  Anthropoloov, 

AT  NASHVILLE,  TENN., 

AUGUST,    187" 


SALEM ; 


PRINTED   AT  THE   SALEM   PRESS. 

•     1878. 


ADDRESS 


OF 


PROFESSOll    DANIEL    WILSON 


CHAIRMAN  OF  THE  SUBSECTION  OF  ANTHROPOLOGY. 


! 


Ladies  and  Gentlemen  :  — 

■  The  honor  which  you  have  conferred  upon  me  in  electing  me 
chairman  of  the  subsection  of  Anthropology,  imposes  on  me  the 
duty  of  delivering  an  opening  address  on  some  subject  relating  to 
the  special  objects  of  study  to  which  your  researches  are  directed. 
I  greatly  regret  that  the  protracted  effects  of  an  accident  from 
which  I  v.m  stilJ  suffering,  have  prevented  me  giving  the  requisite 
time  and  a'^udy  to  the  preparation  of  an  address  worthy  of  the 
subject,  an<l  of  the  audience  to  which  it  has  to  be  presented.  I 
must,  therefore,  throw  myself  on  your  kind  indulgence,  and  trust 
that  the  varied  character  and  high  interest  of  the  papers  to  be 
communicated  to  this  subsection,  will  atone  for  all  deflciences  at 
its  opening. 

By  the  establishment  of  a  permanent  subgection  of  Anthropology 
in  the  A.  A.  A.  S.,  the  growing  importance  of  this  attractive  de- 
partment of  science  has  received  a  just  recognition,  which  cannot 
fail  to  give  fresh  stimulus  to  research.  In  its  most  comprehen- 
sive aspects  Anthropology  includes  the  old-fashioned  labors  of  the 
antiquary  in  their  later  development  into  a  science  of  Archaeology  ; 
it  embraces  all  that  pertains  to  that  common  ground  of  the  geolo- 
gist and  archoeologist  in  the  more  recent  strata  in  which  man  and 

(319) 


■■'  r 


820 


ADDRESS    OF   DANIEL    WILSON, 


the  traces  of  his  primitive  arts  arc  believed  to  occur  in  situ  ;  }'ct 
at  the  same  time  it  deals  mainly  with  a  class  of  evidence  peculiarly 
its  own.  The  extinct  life  of  geological  periods  reveals  itself  to 
the  instructed  eye  of  the  palueontologist  chiefly  by  means  of  the 
actual  fossil  remains.  Or  if  to  these  have  to  be  added  illustrations 
of  habits,  food,  structure,  etc.,  such  as  are  supplied  by  means  of 
gnawed  bones  in  the  cave-resorts  of  carnivora,  coprolites,  footprints, 
and  the  like  subsidiary  evidence :  still  all  are  traceable  directl}'  or 
indirectly  to  the  living  organism.  But  with  man  it  is  otherwise. 
His  presence  is  manifested  as  the  contemporary  of  such  ancient 
life,  independently  of  all  traces  of  his  actual  remains,  by  means 
of  the  works  of  his  hands  ;  and  thus  the  study  of  the  archaeologist 
becomes  an  ingenious  process  of  induction,  when  employed  to 
determine  the  social  habits,  the  culture,  and  the  intellectual  and 
moral  characteristics,  of  races  of  men  which  had  passed  away  long 
before  the  very  dawn  of  history.  But  the  science  of  Anthropology 
also  comprehends  the  common  ground  of  biology  and  physiology, 
in  which  man  takes  his  place  along  with  all  other  animals,  as  a 
subject  of  natural  history'.  The  physical  structure  of  the  savage 
as  compared  with  civilized  races,  and  of  V  e  oldest  osteological 
traces  of  man  with  both,  are  legitimate  subjects  of  investigation. 
Craniology,  and  other  branches  of  comparative  anatomy,  in  like 
manner  come  linder  review,  first  in  the  comparison  of  races,  in 
reference  to  the  diverse  varieties  of  man  ;  and  nest  in  the  study 
of  the  analogies  of  the  Anthropomorplm  with  the  Anthropidae,  as 
represented  b}'  the  single  genus  and  species  Man. 

In  the  older  classifications  of  the  naturalist,  the  aim  has  been 
to  determine  for  Man  a  place  in  the  system  of  nature  which  shall 
give  distinct  recognition  to  his  moral  and  intellectual,  as  well  as 
to  his  physical  attributes.  The  Bimana  of  Cuvier  and  Blumeu- 
bach,  and  other  schemes  of  a  like  kind,  r/hich  for  the  present  have 
fallen  into  disfavor,  had  this  in  view.  But  while  it  is  legitimate 
for  the  naturalist  in  treating  of  man  as  a  vertebrate  animal,  to 
take  into  consideration  his  physical  structure  alone  ;  it  is  not  only 
not  unphilosophical,  to  look  beyond  this  to  the  psj'chical  elements 
of  his  being;  but  it  is  indispensable,  that  the  anthropologist  ever 
keep  in  view  the  double  nature  of  man.  That  man  is  an  animal  is 
unquestionable  ;  but  that  he  is  something  more  is  assumed  in  the 
very  simple  axiom  which  constitutes  the  basis  of  the  whole  argu- 
ment for  the  antiquity  of  Man.    The  constructive  instincts  of 


u  - 


CHAIRMAN  OF  SCBSECTTON  OF    ANTHROPOLOOT. 


321 


i 


beast,  bird,  crustacean,  insect,  and  zoophyte,  furnish  endless  sub- 
jects for  admiring  stndj' ;  yet  so  thoroughly  is  the  use  of  tools 
recognized  as  the  exclusive  attribute  of  man,  that  the  discovery 
in  the  glacial  drift,  or  cave-breccia,  of  a  single  artificially  fashioned 
flint  or  stone — chipped  thougii  it  may  be  into  rudest  form  —  is 
sufflcient  to  satisfy  the  geologist  of  the  contemporaneous  presence 
of  man.  Hence,  while  it  is  convenient  to  keep  apart  from  the 
elements  of  physical  structure  nil  those  evidences  which  relate  to 
mental  phenomena,  a  very  inadequate  conception  of  man  must  be 
formed  if  the  latter  are  excluded  from  our  estimate  of  him. 

But  it  is  one  of  the  curious  and  unexpected  results  of  the  great 
revolution  in  biological  science  consequent  on  the  recognition  of 
a  continuity  of  succession  of  forms  of  life,  :  based  on  the  hy- 
pothesis of  evolution,  tliat  such  distinctive  elerr^nts  of  mental 
phenomena  as  are  embraced  under  tlie  heads  ,  chology,  soci- 

ology, etc.,  are  no  longer  absolutely  limited  t  In  the  com- 

prehensive inquiries  to  which  tlie  novel  teachings  oi  evolution  have 
given  rise,  the  germs  of  man's  intellectual  and  moral,  as  well  as  of 
his  physical  attributes,  are  being  sought  for  in  the  instincts  and 
habits  of  the  lower  animals ;  and  ihe  phenomena  of  social  life 
which  they  exhibit  have  acquired  a  novel  interest  from  their  sup- 
posed bearing  on  the  sources  of  highest  mental  and  moral  develop- 
ment. 

The  result  of  such  researches  tends  more  and  more  to  diminish 
the  number  of  characteristic  attributes  previously  adduced  as  the 
basis  of  a  true  definition  of  Man.  Rluaieubach  reduced  his  earlier 
and  more  comprehensive  characteristics  into  the  two  .very  simple 
elements  of  the  ^^  animal  erectum,  bimanum."  But  the  order  of 
Bimana,  subsequently  adopted  by  Cuvier  for  the  human  family', 
is  already  rejected,  in  spite  of  such  high  authority.  Owen,  again, 
—  looking  to  the  brain  as  the  organ  of  Man's  grand  inheritance, 
reason, — sought  to  determine  for  him  a  classification  distinct  from 
the  other  Primates,  and  from  the  Mammalia  generally',  under  the 
term  Archencephala ;  but  the  proposed  sub-class,  after  protracted 
discussion  among  the  most  eminent  anatomists  and  physiologists, 
has  in  like  manner  been  abandoned. 

It  thus  becomes  ever  more  diflficult  to  select  the  special  charac- 
teristics which  shall  supply  a  definition  exclusively  applicabl  i  to 
Man.  He  has  been  stjied  the  tool-using,  and  the  tool-making 
animal ;  the  fire-using  animal ;   the  cooking  animal,  etc.     There 

A.  A.  A.  8.,    VOL.  XXVI.  21 


822 


ADDRESS    OF   DANIRL    WILSON, 


is  one  attribute  wliioli  still  seems  to  be  his  riglit ;  and  which  per- 
tains to  the  source  of  all  those  differentiations.  We  popularly 
use  such  terms  as  the  irrational  creation,  the  brute  creation,  ra- 
tional beings,  etc. ;  accepting  reason  as  the  primary  distinctive  char- 
acteristic of  Man.  Yet  even  in  this  he  is  now  denied  an  exclusive 
heritage ;  nor  is  it  now,  for  the  first  time,  that  some  exercise  of  a 
reasoning  faculty  is  recognized  as  pertaining  to  the  lower  animals. 
Physically,  mentally,  and  morally,  the  ground  within  which  he  has 
seemed  to  be  intrenched  beyond  reach  of  encroachment  by  the 
lower  orders  of  animate  nature,  seems  to  give  way.  But  there 
remains  one  specialty  indisputably  his  own.  We  habitually 
designate  all  other  living  creatures  as  dumb  animals ;  discrimi- 
nating in  this  between  the  inarticulate  cries  of  the  lower  animals, 
and  the  intelligent  utterances  of  human  speech.  Hence  the  legiti- 
mate selection  of  language  as  the  most  essential  and  unvarying 
index  of  Man.  No  race  of  men  has  ever  been  found  devoid  of 
language.  No  other  animal  has  ever  been  known  to  possess 
language  in  its  most  rudimentary  form.  We  have,  indeed,  speech 
in  a  certain  sense,  in  the  parrot,  the  starling,  etc. ;  but  this  is  no 
more  than  another  phase  of  the  capacity  for  imitating  sounds, 
familiar  to  us  in  the  natural  imitations  of  the  mocking  bird ; 
and  dependent  ir  part  on  physical  structure.  Neither  in  the  one 
case  nor  in  the  other,  are  the  sounds  symbols  of  thought,  or  vocal 
signs  of  objects  or  ideas. 

Hence  one  of  the  highest  branches  of  Anthropology  is  the 
Science  of  Language.  The  researches  into  the  sources  and  nature 
of  speech,  and  into  the  Science  of  Language,  which  have  been 
pursued  by  the  foremost  among  the  philologists  of  Europe  for  up- 
wards of  half  a  century,  have  opened  up  novel  lines  of  inquiry 
not  less  fascinating  than  the  most  brilliant  discoveries  of  the  age. 
But  America  has  its  own  special  department  in  this  great  v,'ork,  in 
the  languages  of  a  continent,  isolated  for  unnumbered  centuries ; 
and  left  to  develop  its  own  philological  characteristics  uninfluenced 
by  any  of  the  sources  which  have  affected  the  structure  of  lan- 
guages of  the  Old  World  within  the  historic  period. 

Professor  Max  Miiller  has  drawn  attention  to  the  tendency  of 
the  languages  of  America  towards  an  endless  multiplication  of 
distinct  dialects.  Those  again  have  been  grouped  by  the  synthetic 
process  of Hervas  into  eleven  families;  seven  for  our  northern 
continent,  and  four  for  South  America.    But  much  yet  remains  to 


i 


: 


CHAIRMAN -OF  SUBSECTION   OF   ANTHROPOLOGY. 


828 


be  clone  in  this  important  department.  One  able  English  compara- 
tive philologist,  Mr,  Hyde  Clarite,  invites  attention  to  a  singularly 
fascinating  line  of  research,  in  his  "Kliita  and  Khita-Peruvian 
Epoch."  Tracing  the  progress  of  his  Suraerian  Race  —  from  the 
nnion  of  which  with  the  Semites  he  derives  the  ethnological  pecu- 
liarities of  the  Jews,  —  he  assigns  an  interval  of  four  thousand 
years  since  their  settleu)ent  in  Babylonia  and  India.  In  like 
manner,  on  the  assumption  of  their  migration  from  a  coinmoa 
centre  in  High  Asia,  which  the  division  of  Western  and  Eastera 
Sumerian  in  pronouns  and  other  details  is  thought  to  indicate ; 
it  appears  probable  that  Peru  may  have  been  reached  by  a  migra- 
tory wave  of  earliest  movement  from  four  to  five  thousand  years 
ago;  though  Mr.  Hyde  Clarke  conceives  that  it  is  quite  within 
compass  that  the  same  great  wave  of  migration  by  which  India 
and  Babylonia  were  reached,  continued  to  propagate  its  centrifugal 
force ;  and  by  its  means  Peru  was  reached  within  the  last  three 
thousand  years. 

The  sj'stem  of  Agassiz,  based  on  his  idea  of  natural  provinces 
of  the  Animal  World,  and  tlieir  relation  to  different  types  of  Man, 
favored  the  idea  of  various  native  American  centres  within  which 
the  diverse  varieties  of  American  Man  originated  ;  and  from  whence 
they  had  been  distributed  over  the  entire  continent.  This  idea 
proved  acceptable  for  a  time  to  American  ethnologists,  advanced 
as  it  was  on  such  high  authority,  and  with  some  specially  seduc- 
tive arguments  in  its  favor.  But  the  progress  of  science  has 
effected  a  total  revolution  in  refeicnce  to  this  question.  The  idea 
of  a  plurality  of  origin,  and  of  a  number  of  distinct  races  of  Men, 
was  in  harmony  with  the  popular  process  of  an  endless  multiplica- 
tion of  species  throughout  the  entire  animal  kingdom.  Hence  it 
found  favor  for  a  time  in  the  speculations  of  science,  and  was 
even  dogmatically  advanced  as  one  of  its  indisputable  truths. 
But  already  the  leadings  of  scientific  induction  point  in  a  wholly 
different  direction,  tending  to  the  more  comprehensive  unitj'  which 
embraces  all  men  in  the  descent  from  a  centre  common  to  them 
with  other  animals. 

It  is  sufficient  for  our  present  purpose  to  note  that  the  abroga- 
tion of  a  system  which  recognized  in  the  Man  of  America  a  being 
primarily'  distinct  in  origin  from  all  races  of  the  Old  World,  leaves 
us  free  to  follow  out  the  interesting  inquiries  suggested  by  appar- 
ent relations  between  the  native  languages  of  this  continent  and 


824 


ADDRESS    OF   DANIEL    WILSON, 


those  of  ancient  Asia  and  Africa,  unencumbered  by  conflicting 
elements  of  scientific  classification.  Assuming,  for  the  salie  of 
argument,  that  a  common  Turanian  population  of  Asia  and  America 
separated,  let  us  say  four  thousand  years  ago:  the  phenomena 
exhibited  la  the  extreme  polysynthetic  characteristics  of  many  of 
the  native  languages  of  this  continent  as  compared  with  the  agglu- 
tination of  the  Turanian  languages  of  Asia,  furnish  a  subject  of 
investigation  not  less  interesting  to  American  students,  alike  of 
the  Science  of  Language,  and  of  tlie  whole  comprehensive  ques- 
tions which  Anthropology  embraces,  than '  the  relations  of  the 
Romance  Languages  of  Europe  to  the  parent  Latin ;  or  of  the  Latin 
itself,  and  all  the  Aryan  languages,  ancient  and  modern,  not  only 
to  the  Sanskrit  and  Zend,  but  to  the  indeterminate  stock  which 
furnished  the  parent  rots,  the  grammatical  forms,  and  that  whole 
class  of  words  still  recognizable  as  the  common  property  of  the 
whole  Aryan  family  of  languages.  The  Sanskrit  was  a  dead  lan- 
guage three  thousand  years  ago ;  the  English  language,  as  such, 
cann^b  claim  to  have  originated  much  more  than  fourteen  centuries 
ago,  yet  both  partake  of  the  same  coh:<mon  property  of  numerals 
and  familiar  terms  existing  under  certain  modifications  in  Sanskrit, 
Greek,  Latin,  German,  Slavonic,  Celtic,  Anglo-saxon,  and  in  all 
the  Romance  Languages  of  Europe.  What  has  America  to  show, 
analogous  to  this:  not  only  of  aflSnity  of  languages  within  itself; 
but  of  possible  relationship  to  languages  of  other  continents,  and 
of  elder  centuries? 

,  Gallatin  early  drew  attention  to  certain  analogies  in  the  struc- 
ture of  Polynesian  and  American  languages,  as  deserving  of  care- 
fkil  investigation ;  and  pointed  out  the  peculiar  mode  of  expressing 
the  tense,  mood,  and  voice  of  the  verb,  by  affixed  particles,  and 
the  value  given  to  place  over  time,  as  indicated  in  the  predominant 
locative  verbal  form.  The  substitution  of  affixed  particles  for  in- 
flections, especially  in  expressing  the  direction  of  action  in  relation 
to  the  speaker,  is  common  to  the  Polynesian  and  the  Oregon  lan- 
guages, and  also  has  analogies  in  the  Cherokee.  We  have,  in 
truth,  to  deal  with  language  as  the  geologist  has  learned  to  do  with 
the  earth's  crust,  and  recover  from  the  aggregations  of  the  one,  as 
from  the  accumulated  strata  of  the  other,  the  records  of  a  long 
forgotten  past.  Subsequent  observations,  tliough  hitherto  very 
partially  prosecuted,  have  tended  to  confirm  the  idea  of  elements 
lecognizable  as  common    in    the  languages  of   Polynesia  and 


I 


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CHAIRMAN  OF    SCBSECTION   OF    ANTHR070L0OT. 


325 


I 


America.  This  is  specially  noticeable  in  relation  to  the  languages 
of  South  America,  as  shown  in  their  mode  of  expressing  the  tense  of 
the  verb ;  in  the  formation  of  causative,  reciprocal,  potential  and 
locative  verbs,  by  affixes  ;  and  in  the  general  system  of  compound 
word  structure.  The  incorporation  of  the  particle  with  the  verbal 
root,  appears  to  embody  the  germ  of  the  more  comprehensive 
American  holophrasms.  But  here  again  while  seeming  to  recover 
links  of  connection  with  Polynesia,  it  becomes  apparent,  as  euch 
affinities  lead  us  to  anticipate,  that  we  are  on  the  track  of  others  no 
less  clearly  Asiatic.  Striking  analogies  have  been  recognized  be- 
tween the  languages  of  the  Deccan,  and  those  of  the  Polynesian 
group,  in  which  the  determinate  significance  of  the  formative  parti- 
cles on  the  verbal  root,  equally  admits  of  comparison  with  peculiari- 
ties characteristic  of  languages  of  this  continent.  On  this  subject 
the  Rev.  Richard  Garnett  remarks,  in  a  communication  to  the  Phil- 
ological Society,  that  most  of  the  native  American  languages  ot 
which  we  have  definite  information,  bear  a  general  analogy  alike 
to  the  Polynesian  family  and  to  the  languages  of  the  Deccan,  in 
their  methods  of  distinguishing  the  various  modifications  of  time ; 
and  he  adds :  *'  We  rnay  venture  to  affirm  in  general  terms  that  a 
South  American  verb  is  constructed  precisely  as  those  in  the 
Tamul  and  other  languages  of  Southern  India ;  consisting,  like 
them,  of  a  verbal  root,  a  second  element  defining  the  time  of  the 
action,  and  a  third  denoting  the  subject  or  person." 

Such  indications  of  philological  relations  outside  of  the  Ameri- 
can continent,  are  replete  with  interest.  If  the  languages  of  South 
America  have  such  affinities  with  the  Polynesian  archipelago,  then 
also  we  may  expect  to  establish  a  like  relationship  between  the 
megalithic  sculptures  and  cyclopsean  masonry  of  Peru,  and  the 
remarl'able  ancient  stone  str'jctures  and  colossal  sculpture  long 
ago  noted  by  Captain  Bcechy  on  sotne  of  the  islands  nearest  the 
coasts  of  Chili  and  Peru ;  and  since  then  recognized  on  others 
lying  towards  the  Asiatic  Continent.  We  thus  seem  to  recover 
the  trail  of  an  ancient  migration  (torn  Asia  to  America,  of  which 
other  traces  are  not  wanting:  as  in  the  Polynesian  practice  of 
compressing  the  skull,  as  described  by  Dr.  Pickering,  and  since 
abundantly  confirmed  by  the  forms  of  Kanaka  skulls.  By  follow- 
ing up  the  traces  of  this  strange  custom,  perpetuated  among  the 
tribes  on  the  Pacific  coasts  both  of  Northern  and  Southern  America 
to  our  own  day,  we  retrace  the  steps  of  ancient  wanderers  back- 


S26 


Aju-DRESS    of  DANIEL    WILSON, 


ward  through  the  islands  of  the  Pacific,  to  Asia ;  and  so  to  elder 
centuries  when  the  Macrocephali  of  the  Euxiue  attracted  the  ob- 
servant eye  of  Hippocrates ;  and  became  familiar  to  Strabo,  Flinj', 
and  Fomponius  Mela. 

The  evidences  of  migration  from  tlie  continent  of  Asia  to  the 
islands  of  the  Pacific  are  abundant,  and  some  of  them  seemingly 
of  no  very  remote  date.  The  direct  relationsiiip  of  existing  Poly- 
nesian languages  is  not  Mongol  but  Malay  ;  but  this  is  the  intru- 
sive elemeut  of  a  time  long  subsequent  to  the  growth  of  that 
linguistic  element  which  still  perpetuates  traces  of  Polynesian  and 
American  affinities.  The  number  and  diversit}'  of  the  languages 
of  this  continent,  and  their  essentially  native  vocabularies,  prove 
that  the  latter  have  been  in  process  of  development  from  a  remote 
period,  free  from  contact  with  languages  which  appear  to  have 
been  still  modelling  themselves  according  to  the  same  plan  of 
thought  in.  many  scattered  islands  of  the  Pacific. 

In  attempting  to  recover  the  traces  of  ancient  history  thns  indi- 
cated, the  languages  which  seem  to  invite  special  study  are  the 
Aymara,  tiie  Quichua,  and  tlie  Maya.  The  Quichua  was  tlie  clas- 
sical language  of  South  America,  wherein,  according  to  its  native 
historians,  the  Peruvian  clironiclers  and  poets  incorporated  the 
national  legends ;  and  which  occupied  a  place  under  Inca  rule 
closely  analogous  to  that  of  the  Norman  French  in  England,  from 
the  eleventh  to  the  thirteenth  century.  The  Maya  language,  which 
strikingly  contrasts,  in  its  soft,  vocalic  forms,  with  the  languages 
of  the  nations  immediately  to  the  north  of  its  native  area,  is  that 
which  Stephens  tells  us  was  attirmed  b}'  Indian  traditions  among 
the  natives  of  Central  America  to  be  still  spoken  by  a  living  race 
in  the  region  beyond  the  Great  Sierra,  extending  to  Yucatan  and 
the  Mexican  Gulf.  To  those  ancient  cultured  languages  of  the 
seats  of  an  indigenous  civilization  on  this  continent,  attention 
must  anew  bo  directed,  with  all  the  latest  appliances  furnished  in 
the  new  developments  of  the  science  of  language.  There,  appar- 
ently, we  have  to  look  for  an  answer  to  many  inquiries  specially 
interesting  to  ourselves  as  occupants  of  this  western  world.  If 
the  arts  of  architecture  and  sculpture,  and  the  hieroglyphic  records 
with  which  they  are  enriched,  are  modifications  of  prehistoric 
Asiatic  civilization,  it;  is  there  that  the  evidence  is  to  be  looked 
for ;  and  if  the  arts  of  the  sculptor  and  architect  were  brought  to 
this  continent  by  wanderers  from  au  Asiatic  fatherland,  then  the 


CHAIRMAN  OF   SUBSECTION   OF    ANTHROPOLOGY. 


327 


arts  of  the  potter  and  of  the  metaUurgist  are  also  an  inheritance 
from  the  old  Asiatic  hive  of  the  nations:  that  long-recognized 
cradle-land  of  the  human  race.        ■       ' 

In  searching  for  the  origin  of  the  peculiar  native  civilization  of 
America,  Mr.  Hyde  Clarke  employs  philology  as  his  chief  guide. 
He  takes  the  recently  deciphered  Akkad  for  the  typical  language 
of  his  Sumerian  class.  This  he  assumes  to  have  started  probably 
from  High  Asia,  and  to  have  passed  on  to  Babylonia ;  while 
another  branch  diffused  itself  by  India  and  Indo-China,  and  thence 
by  way  of  the  islands  of  the  Pacific  reached  America.  Hence  in 
an  illustrative  table  of  Sumerian  words  arranged  under  four  heads, 
as  Western,  Indo-Chinese,  Peruvian,  and  Mexican,  etc.,  he  re- 
marks ^' while  in  some  cases  a  root  may  be  traced  throughout,  it 
will  be  seen  that  more  commonly  the  Western  and  American  roots, 
or  types,  cross  in  the  Indo-Chinese  region."  But  he  also  recog- 
nizes another,  and  older  influence,  related  to  the  Agaw  of  the  Nile 
region,  of  which  he  discovers  traces  in  the  Guarani,  Omagua,  and 
other  languages  of  South  America ;  indicating  evidences  of  more 
remote  lelations  with  the  Old  World,  and  with  the  African  conti- 
nent ;  but  which  he  conceives  to  have  been  displaced  by  a  Sumerian 
migration  by  which  the  A3'mara  domination  was  established  in 
Peru,  and  the  Maya  element  introduced  into  Yucatan.  Those 
movements  are  assumed  to  belong  to  an  era  of  insular  and  elder 
Asiatic  civilization,  during  which  the  maritime  enterprise  of  the 
Pacific  may  have  been  carried  on  upon  a  scale  unknown  to  the 
most  adventurous  of  modern  Malay  navigr^ors,  notwithstanding 
the  essentially  maritime  character  by  which  the  race  is  still  distin- 
guished. 

Thus  the  highway  to  the  Pacific  was  familiar  to  both  continents ; 
and  hence  a  second  migration  is  recognized,  in  certain  linguistic 
relations  between  the  Siamese  and  other  languages  of  Indo-China, 
and  the  Quichua  and  Aztec  of  Peru  and  Mexico.  Here  at  any 
rate  are  glimpses  of  research  in  the  prosecution  of  which  American 
Anthropologists  may  employ  their  learning  and  acumen  with  results 
which  shall  reveal  to  us  a  past  not  less  marvellous,  and  possessing 
a  more  personal  interest,  than  all  which  geology  has  recovered 
from  the  testimony  of  the  rocks.  This  is  one  of  your  legitimate 
lines  of  investigation,  singularly  fascinating  in  its  rich  promises^ 
Already  the  students  of  science  are  recovering  for  us  curious 
glimpses  of  that  long-forgotten  crawhen  the  parent  language  of  the 


'  V 


M 


fc'   1 


828 


ADDRESS    OF  DAUIBL    WILSOK, 


whole  Aryan  stock  was  the  tongne  of  an  ancient  civilized  people,  on 
the  great  plateau  of  Central  Asia,  speaking  a  language  which  was 
neither  Sanskrit,  Greek,  German,  nor  Slavonic;  but  which  in- 
cluded the  dialectic  germs  of  all.  In  the  remote  era  to  which  this 
points,  the  parent  stock  of  primitive  Aryans  had  realized  that 
fttndamental  idea  of  settled  civilizaiion  which  consists  in  property 
in  land ;  had  made  .great  progress  in  agriculture ;  and  as  Professor 
Max  Miiller  says  of  them,  'Hhey  had  recognized  the  bonds  of 
blood,  and  sanctioned  the  bonds  of  marriage ;  they  invoked  the 
Giver  of  Light  and  Life  in  heaven  by  the  same  name  which  you 
may  still  hear  in  the  temples  of  Benares,  in  the  basilicas  of  Rome, 
and  in  our  own  churches  and  cathedra'.s."  The  same  lines  of 
research  point  hopefully  to  future  disclosures  for  ourselves,  helping, 
us  to  bridge  over  the  great  gulf  which  separates  America  from 
that  elder  historic  and  prehistoric  world ;  and  so  to  reunite  the 
modern  history  of  this  continent  with  an  ancient  past. 

Many  other  departments  of  our  comprehensive  study  might  in  like 
manner  be  alluded  to.  I  might  fitly  refer  to  the  undesigned,  yet 
exhaustive  ethnological  experiments  which  are  being  carried  out 
on  this  continent  on  the  grandest  scale.  Here  we  witness  the 
transferrence  of  the  indigenous  population  of  Africa,  of  Asia,  and 
of  Europe,  to  a  continent  where  they  are  brought  into  new  geo- 
graphical, climatic,  and  social  conditions.  We  see  the  African  in 
the  South,  the  Chinese  on  the  Pacific,  the  Frenchman  on  the  St. 
Lawrence,  the  German,  the  Celt,  and  the  Anglo-Saxon,  all  sub- 
jected to  novel  influences,  necessarily  testing  the  results  of  a 
change  of  climate,  of  diet,  and  of  social  habits,  on  the  ethnical 
character  of  each.  Here  too,  alike  in  the  Red  and  Black  races,  we 
see  experiments  of  hybridity  carried  out  on  a  scale  adequate  to 
determine  many  points  involved  in  the  question  of  the  origin  and 
perpetuation  of  the  various  races  of  mankind.  Here,  too,  man 
can  still  be  studied,  as  among  the  Esquimaux,  in  a  condition 
closely  analogous  to  that  which  is  ascribed  to  postpliocene,  if  not 
to  preglacial  man.  Here  may  still  be  seen  races  practising  neo- 
lithic arts  of  a  stone  age  as  genuine  as  that  of  Europe's  prehistoric 
times ;  on  the  other  hand  we  witness  influences  begotten  by  the 
abrupt  intrusion  of  the  matured  arts  of  Europe  on  the  first  crude 
efforts  of  the  native  savage  with  the  virgin  copper  )ii  hich  he  has 
learned  to  hammer  into  weapons  and  implements  to  supply  his 
needs.    Here,  too,  may  be  seen  the  infantile  rudiments  of  ideog- 


II 


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CHAIRMAN  or    SUBSKCTION   OF    AMTBROPOLOaT. 


329 


raphy  and  letters  in  the  symbolic  picturings  of  tho  Indian  on-  bis 
buffalo-robe  or  liis  grave  post ;  and,  beyond  this  the  transitional 
stages  of  a  written  language,  through  the  pictorial  records  of 
Mexico,  the  hieroglyphics  of  Central  America,  and  even  the  first 
approximations  to  true  numerals  and  alphabetic  characters.  In 
all  this  I  but  glance  at  some  of  the  most  salient  points  embraced 
within  tlie  legitimate  work  of  this  section. 

It  is  thus  apparent  that  the  department  assigned  to  the  anthro- 
pological subsection  embraces  an  ample  and  varied  field  in  which 
very  diverse  talents  and  acquir  jments  may  be  brought  into  coop- 
eration ;  and  made  to  converge  by  widely  separated  lines  of 
thought  and  research,  towards  the  common  centre  of  great  and 
far-reaching  truths  involved  in  the  science  of  Man.  So  compre- 
hensive a  field  of  study  demands  for  its  elucidation  the  mastery  of 
many  distinct  branches  of  science,  and  a  comprehensive  knowl- 
edge both  of  ancient  and  modern  languages.  The  researches  of 
the  scholar  in  his  study,  of  the  archaeologist  and  geologist  in  their 
field-labors,  of  the  traveller  in  his  far-wanderings  and  of  the 
missionary  teacher  in  his  more  intimate  intercourse  with  the 
nations  of  strange  lands,  have  all  to  be  combined  with  investiga- 
tions in  other  departments  of  sci  ace ;  while  physiology,  palaeon- 
tology, and  comparative  anatomy,  mineralogy  and  metallurgy, 
each  contribute  its  quota  towards  the  interpretation  of  the  evidence 
with  which  the  anthropologist  has  to  deal. 

But  various  causes  have  thus  far  combined  to  give  to  the 
investigations  of  the  American  anthropologist  a  character  essen- 
tially distinct  from  that  which  has  marked  those  of  his  co-laborers 
in  Europe.  In  the  earlier  stages  of  research  he  has  seejned  in 
some  respects  to  be  placed  at  a  disadvantage.  In  reality,  however, 
as  the  special  features  which  pertain  to  such  inquiries  on  this  con- 
tinent are  fUlly  matured,  it  will  become  apparent  that  he  enjoys 
many  advantages,  and  has  within  his  reach  some  exclusive  facili- 
ties which  may  be  expected  to  give  a  unique  character  to  American 
anthropology.  Whether  our  object  be  to  study  the  characteristics 
of  savage  man  unafilected  by  extraneous  influences  of  civilized 
nations ;  to  investigate  the  effect  of  the  intermingling  of  essen- 
tially diverse  races,  in  the  production  and  perpetuation  of  new 
varieties ;  or  in  the  improvement,  degeneracy,  or  sterility  of  such 
hybrid  stocks;  to  ascertain  the  condition  of  races  ignorant  of 
metallurgy;  to  trace  the  processes  by  which  the  true  metal- 


K 


880 


ADDRESS    OF  DANIEL   WILSOK, 


lurg'ic  arts  have  been  evolved,  fro'.n  the  first  crude  working  of 
malleable  copper  or  lead  with  the  hammer,  to  the  tentative  inter- 
mingling of  copper  and  tin  in  the  crucible^  and  the  moulding  and 
casting  implements  and  personal  ornaments  of  bron?e,  as  well  as 
of  gold  ;  or  lastly,  to  follow  in  tlie  steps  of  Humboldt,  and  inves- 
tigate the  analo<5ie8  to  anciani  Asiatic  beliefs  in  th6  mythology  of 
the  semi-civilized  nations  of  Central  and  South  America ;  the  indi- 
cations of  correspondence  in  their  calendars  and  astronomical  di- 
visions of  time ;  or  the  affinities  of  grammar  recognizable  in 
languages  of  the  New  and  the  Old  World  :  in  each  and  all  of  those 
it  will  be  found  that  we  enjoy,  as  occupants  of  t'ns  continent, 
facilities  peculiarly  our  own. 

Our  training  for  the  work  which  this  Anthropological  subsection 
has  undertaken,  is  of  itself  peculiar.  The  archteologists  of  Eu- 
rope had  been  busied  for  centuries  in  the  elucidation  of  early  his- 
toric monuments ;  and  only  during  the  present  century  passed 
beyond  that  stage  to  a  study  of  the  ruder  traces  of  primitive  art, 
and  of  the  physical  characteristics  of  unhistoric,  if  not  prehistoric 
races.  The  researches  directed  to  the  elucidation  of  the  problems 
thus  originated  were  followed  up  tln-ough  medieval,  classical, 
Assyrian,  Indian,  and  Egyptian  remains,  to  the  very  threshold  of 
that  prehistoric  period  which  forms  the  debatable  land  between 
geological  and  historical  epochs.  Indeed,  not  the  least  significant 
fact  in  reference  to  the  remarkable  disclosures  of  the  past  quarter 
of  a  century  is  that  some  of  the  most  characteristic  drift  imple- 
ments, such  as  the  flint  spear-head  found  alongside  of  a  fossil 
elephant's  tooth,  in  the  vicinity  of  Gray's  Inn  Lane,  London  ;  or 
the  large  flint  implements  of  the  same  type  Trom  the  drift  of  the 
Wavenej*  Valley,  at  Hoxne  in  Surrey,  underlying  similar  fossil 
remains,  bad  been  brought  under  the  notice  of  archseologists,  and ' 
deposited  in  the  British  Museum,  upwards  of  a  century  before  the 
idea  of  the  contemporaneous  existence  of  Man  and  the  mammals 
of  the  drift  found  any  favor. 

The  conception  of  the  comprehensiveness  even  of  historical  an- 
tiquity was  long  1  rammelled  in  Europe  b}'  a  too  exclusive  devotion 
to  Greek  and  Roman  remains  ;  or  by  profitless  efforts  at  the  inter- 
pretation of  the  more  ancient  monuments  of  Egypt ;  but  the  his- 
torical relations  of  this  continent  with  the  Old  World,  are  so  recent 
that  for  us  the  fifteenth  century  is  its  historical  dawn  ;  and  anything 
dating  before  the  landing  of  Columbus  has  till  very  recently 


CHAIRJIAN  OF    SUBSECTION  OF  ANTHROPOLOQT. 


331 


seemed  to  be  inconceivably  ancient.  Hence  antiquarian  specula- 
tions and  historical  research  have  been  almost  exclusively  occupied 
on  matters  of  a  very  modern  date ;  and  great  industry  has  been 
often  profitlessly  expended  in  attempts  to  establish  derivative  re- 
lations between  the  sculptures  and  hieroglyphics  of  Central 
America,  Mexico,  and  Peru,  and  those  of  ancient  Egypt.  But  in 
this,  as  in  so  many  other  departments  of  the  archreology  and 
ethnology  of  the  New  World,  we  want  facts  rather  than  theories. 
Much  has  been  done  in  recent  years  to  add  to  our  knowledge  of 
the  antiquities  of  Central  America  and  Peru.  Forbes,  Markham, 
Agassiz,  Hutchinson,  Squier,  and  others,  have  made  important  ad- 
ditions to  the  evidence  required.  Nevertheless  even  now  it  is  a 
moot  point  whether  Central  America  has  not  yet  to  disclose,  not 
only  still  more  remarkable  ruined  cities  than  any  that  Stephens 
revealed,  but  even  inhabited  cities  where  a  native  civilization  is 
still  in  progress. 

But  the  all-absorbing  theme  of  archteological  inquiry  at  present 
embraces  tlie  evidence  of  the  antiquity  of  Man.  Tlie  palseolithic 
disclosures  of  the  French  dr'ft,  belong  to  our  own  day  ;  and  though 
the  researches  of  Mr.  MacEnery  in  the  famous  Kent's  Hole  Cave 
had,  fully  half  a  century  ago,  brought  to  light  true  palseolithic  flint 
implements  in  the  same  red  loam  with  the  bones  of  the  Mammoth, 
Tichorhine  Rhinoceros,  Cave  Bear,  and  other  extinct  mammalia,  it 
is  only  now  that  the  true  significance  of  the  disclosures  of  the 
ossiferous  caves  oi'  Europe  is  being  understood.  America  was 
indeed  little  behind  Europe  in  the  earlier  stages  of  cave  research, 
for  it  is  no  V  upwards  of  forty  years  since  Dr.  Lund  and  M. 
Clausscn  recovered  from  limestone  caverns  in  the  Brazils,  the 
remains  of  Man  alongside  of  many  fossil  bones  of  extinct 
mammals;  and  —  with  special  significance  in  relation  to  more 
recent  speculations — including  those  of  extinct  genera  of  fossil 
monkeys. 

It  is  not  necessary  that  I  should  now  detail  the  isolated  and  du- 
bious illustrations  of  American  palseolithic  art  which  have  thus  far 
rewarded  zealous  research.  Flint  implements  from  the  auriferous 
gravel  of  California  were  produced  at  the  Paris  Exposition  of 
1855  ;  and  have  since  been  described  among  the  disclosures  of  the 
drift  in  Illinois,  Georgia,  and  California.  Still  more,  from  the 
auriferous  drift  of  the  latter  state  there  has  been  produced  to  you 
in  previous  years,  not  only  a  highly  polished  stone  plummet,  but 


882 


ADDRESS    OF  DANIEL    WILSON, 


the  far  more  startling  disclosure  of  a  complete  human  skull.  I 
shall  not  now  enter  on  a  discussion  of  the  sc  entiRc  value  of  such 
evidence.  Chance  —  found,  isolated  examples  of  flint  implements 
must  ever  be  received  with  caution,  as  evidence  of  palseolithic  art, 
on  a  continent  where  the  indigenous  population  have  not  even  now 
ceased  to  manufacture  tools  and  weapons  of  flint  and  stone.  The 
striking  feature  of  archaeological  exploration  in  Europe  has  been 
that  the  tool-bearing  drift  has  been  determined  by  its  geological 
characteiistics  ;  and  the  traces  of  Palaeolithic  Man  are  now  sought 
for  with  the  same  confidence  as  the  well  recognized  fossils  of  any 
geological  strata. 

To  th'~,  same  stage  of  geological  and  archaeological  systematic 
research  we  have  now  happily  arrived  in  America ;  and  I  may 
preiume  that  at  your  present  meeting  an  opportunity  will  be 
afforded  of  judging  of  the  significance  of  the  highly  suggestive 
discovery  of  Dr.  Chas.  C.  Abbott,  in  the  drift  of  the  Delaware 
Riv3r  Valley,  at  Trenton,  New  Jersey,  already  produced  in  the 
B«;port  of  the  Peabodj'  Museum  of  American  Archoeology  and 
Ethnology  for  the  present  year.  You  have  there  set  forth  the 
discovery  of  data  from  which  it  is  assumed  that  man  may  be  shown 
to  have  existed  on  this  continent  during  the  process  o^  formation 
of  the  great  gravel  deposits,  now  ascribed  to  glacial  action,  which 
extend  from  Labrador  as  far  south  as  Virginia,  and  are  but  one  of 
the  many  indices  of  the  Ice  Age  of  tliis  Western  Hemisphere. 
The  great  importance  which  attaches  to  the  discoveries  now  referred 
to,  is  due  to  the  fact  tiiat  they  are  the  result  of  systematic  research, 
based  on  the  scientific  analogies  of  European  archaeology.  The 
locality  selected  for  this  investigation  is  tlie  valley  of  the  Dela- 
ware, at  Trenton,  N.  J.  There  Dr.  Abbott  has  found,  in  situ, 
rude  stone  implements  formed  of  a  granular  argillite,  which  he 
believes  "  were  fashioned  by  man  during  the  glacial  period,  and 
were  deposited  with  the  associated  gravels  as  we  now  find  them." 
The  implements  are  of  peculiar  form,  due  in  part  to  the  material 
of  which  they  are  fashioned.  To  the  most  characteristic  of  these 
Dr.  Abbott  gives  the  name  of  the  "  turtle-back  celt."  But  besides 
this  class  of  rudely  chipped  stone  implements,  were  also  discov- 
ered one  or  more  flint  spear-het*ds,  to  which  a  like  antiquity  is 
ascribed.  Judging  from  its  material,  size,  and  configuration,  as 
indicated  in  the  published  report,  the  question  of  the  contempora- 
neous origin  of  the  figured  spear-head  appears  to  me  to  require 


I   ' 


CHAIRMAN  OF    SUBSECTION   OF  ANTHROPOLOGY. 


833 


careful  consideration.  Assuming,  however,  that  the  whole  evi- 
dence will  be  submitted  to  th^^  section,  it  is  sufficient  that  I  now 
refer  to  a  subject  which  cannot  fail  to  receive  adequate  attention 
from  tboije  best  qualified  to  determine  the  true  significance  of  the 
evidence  adduced. 

It  is  an  event  which  may  be  hailed  as  a  good  omen  for  this  an- 
thropological department  of  the  scientific  work  of  the  Association, 
that  the  Peabody  Museum  of  American  Archaeology  and  Eth- 
nology is  able  to  produce  such  practical  fruits  of  the  wise  patro- 
nage which  it  is  enabled  to  extend  to  arcbseological  research.  We 
are  but  on  the  threshold  of  this  young  science,  pregnant  with 
marvellous  disclosures  relative  to  the  history  of  man.  Let  us  not 
be  hasty  in  the  acceptance  of  crude  theories,  nor  rash  in  the  need- 
less overthrow  of  old  way  marks  in  the  progress  of  knowledge. 
There  is  a  danger  at  the  present  stage,  of  our  becoming  enamoured 
of  theories  just  in  so  far  as  they  conflict  with  hitherto  received 
opinions,  or  charm  by  reason  of  the  vastness  of  their  assumptions. 
Opinion  is  advancing  with  rapid  strides.  Tliere  is  a  danger  that 
fancy  shall  far  outspeed  fact.  I  can  remember  the  time  when,  in 
the  British  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  the  idea 
of  races  in  Britain  prior  to  the  Ccltse,  was  scouted  with  scarcely 
disguised  contempt.  Now  the  tendency  is  to  look  upon  the 
assumed  traces  of  fossil  man  in  the  Tertiary  deposits,  as  compara- 
tively recent.  On  any  hj'pothesis  of  evolution  which  includes 
man  they  must  indeed  be  e;o  ;  for  the  most  ancient  well-authenti- 
cated human  crania  thus  far  discovered  help  us  in  no  degree  to  the 
recovery  of  any  anthropomorphic  stage  of  intermediate  transition 
from  lower  forms  of  life.  The  Cromagnon  skulls  of  the  French 
Reindeer  period  exceed,  rather  than  fall  short  of  the  cerebral 
capacity  of  the  average  modern  Frenchman ;  nor  is  the  famous 
Neanderthal  skull,  with  its  enormous  superciliary  arches,  —  so 
suggestive  of  analogy  to  tl>e  anthropoid  apes,  —  by  any  means 
deficient  in  indications  of  cerebral  development.  We  stand  in 
need  of  ampler  evidence,  not  of  more  comprehensive  hypotheses. 
The  latter  cannot  be  received  with  too  great  caution.  Our  duty 
is,  while  honestly  and  fearlessly  accepting  whatever  evidence  may 
offer,  and  following  out  tho  leadings  of  truth  to  whatever  results 
they  may  tend,  to  carefully  guard  against  the  adoption  of  hasty 
assumptions.  We  have  first  to  establish  beyond  all  doubt  the  facts 
of  science ;  we  must  next  be  sure  that  our  inductions  follow  logi- 


334 


ADDRESS   OF  DANIEL  WILSON. 


cally  from  such  premises.  The  construction  of  startling  hypoth- 
eses is  at  no  time  a  matter  of  difflculty.  It  is  otherwise  with  the 
patient,  diligent  accumulation  of  all  the  evidence  on  which  a  sound 
scientific  induction  can  alone  be  based.  The  truths  which  we  are 
now  in  search  of  specially  demand  from  us  the  elimination  of  all 
uncertain,  still  more,  of  all  spurious  or  misleading  elements.  Truth, 
whatever  it  may  be,  must  triumph  in  the  end  ;  and  whatever  tempts 
us  to  neglect  the  calm,  philosophic  spirit  of  inductive  research  will 
only  retard  that  triumph.  The  work  before  you  for  years  to  come 
must  be  the  accumulation  of  evidence,  the  cautious  sifting  of  it  in 
all  its  bearings,  and  the  ascertaining  what  its  teachinpjs  really  are. 
The  work  which  has  thus  to  be  done  is  laborious ;  but  the  truth 
when  finally  established  will  bring  with  it  its  own  abundant 
reward. 


iPrinted  at  the  Salem  Press,  June,  1878]. 


t     >     ,       ^    i' 


■;'!,' 


